


How the Turntables...

by cosmicbrowni3



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Reader-Insert, Romantic Fluff, Slow Burn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-11-15 23:26:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18082979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicbrowni3/pseuds/cosmicbrowni3
Summary: You're Penelope Garcia's best friend and finally get to meet her coworkers, including the genius Dr. Spencer Reid. Penelope and Morgan decide to devise a plan... a sort of parent trap if you will.I do not claim these characters or any of that biz





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy! Please feel free to leave me a comment! <3 also u get mad props if u get the title of the story. one more thing i cant get my sentences to stay indented and its really annoying me so if anyone could help that would be amazeballs

You’ve always had an interest in true crime and all things wrong or a little scary. It’s how you met your best friend, Penelope Garcia. You were at a Halloween store and searching for the ingredients to make the scariest house and costume of everyone on your block. (You succeeded by the way.) You were in the isle for fake blood, liquid latex, and the scariest decorations when she came in and started stocking up on fake blood, a bag of tiny spiders and rats, and other little creepy things like that. Her cart was filling up quick and you finally asked what she was planning. She said she was buying supplies to prank all of her coworkers. She told you that she worked for the FBI and you instantly clicked, and it’s stayed that way ever since. That was two years ago, you’d heard all about her job but you never had been to her work, or met any of her coworkers. Until today. You walked into the bullpen early in the morning with Penelope, there weren’t many people there yet but Penelope intertwined her arm with yours and marched you over to Emily, you knew it was her just based on pictures.  
“Em, meet my all time bestie, (Y/N).” Penelope said cheerfully, you stuck out your hand to Emily and she shook it happily.  
“Hi! It’s so nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you!” You said happily.  
“You too! Are you just visiting for the day?” Emily asked, you nodded.  
“Yup, I’ve always been interested in what Pen does but I’ve never actually visited and saw how everything worked.” You explained and Emily nodded.  
“Well I gotta get back to work, but it was so nice meeting you!” She said, you waved at her as Penelope led you away and back into her little techy cave.  
“You can meet the rest of them later when they’re all here but now it’s my turn.” Penelope explained and proceeded to explain how everything worked and her part in it. You hung around for a few hours, watching with interest at everything Penelope did as she explained as clearly as she could, which isn’t that clearly since you don’t speak tech.  
Soon it was lunch and you stood up from your chair, stretching your arms above your head, your joints popping. Penelope stood too, “Let’s get some grub and say hi to everyone,” She said, skipping down the hall. You followed her, giggling. You two entered the bullpen and Penelope dragged you over to what you remembered from conversations to be Morgan.  
“Hot Stuff, my favorite person in the world,” She gestured toward you. You and Morgan shook hands.  
“Hiya, I’m (Y/N).” You said as you shook hands.  
“Morgan, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He commented and you shot a happy smile to Penelope. Morgan turned to Penelope, “Wait, I thought I was your favorite person, I’m offended babygirl.” He said clutching his chest in fake agony. You both laughed.  
“Later you hunk, we’re going to go find Reid now.” Penelope said and both she and Morgan shared a secretive look, their expressions slowly spreading into a smile. Penelope smirked and turned leaving you to follow, you shrugged at Morgan and jogged to catch up with Penelope.  
“Who’s Reid and what was that look you gave each other?” You asked, figuring they were up to something.  
“Don’t worry about it,” We approached a lanky guy with super cute brown curls wearing a button down shirt and sweater vest. “(Y/N) this is Dr. Spencer Reid, Reid this is (Y/N). Carry on.” Penelope quickly scurried away leaving you with the cute stranger. You rolled your eyes but Spencer/Reid’s (you didn’t know what to call him) eyes lit up with recognition.  
“Oh! I’ve heard about you! Penelope is always talking about you!” He explained. You looked at him, confused.  
“Really? I try my hardest to remember all of Pen’s coworkers but I just vaguely remember you.” You said then stuck out your hand, “Pleasure to meet you though!” You said enthusiastically. He looked down at your outstretched hand and moved to put his out hesitantly, you felt a shock as soon as your hands touched and you jumped. “Ow!” You sqeaked, pulling your hand back quickly. His eyes widened in surprise and he retracted his hand just as quick. “Sorry!” He apologized, “I’m not sure what I had been touching to create enough friction that it would let out that big of an electric shock, interesting.” He spewed out and something clicked in your brain.  
“Wait! You’re the genius aren’t you? That makes a lot more sense, I was wondering why I couldn’t remember you but it’s because Pen always refers to you as the baby genius!” You remembered and he gave you a weird look.  
“Baby genius?” He asked incredulously, you nodded with a slight giggle. Suddenly his gaze became distracted and he was looking right behind you with a questioning expression. You turned and saw Penelope and Morgan huddled together staring intensely at the two of you with a weirdly hopeful expression. When they realized they were caught though they just turned back to each other and pretended to be deep in conversation. You rolled your eyes.  
“Well they’re real smooth.” You said sarcastically, turning back to Reid. You were determined not to embarrass yourself by calling him Spencer when no one else does. He smiled a little.  
“Definitely. So what do you do?” He asked with genuine interest.  
“Oh, I do special effects makeup, I’ll go onto movie sets, plays, photoshoots, you name it and people will hire me to make them look like something from a nightmare.” You laughed a little and his eyes lit up at the noise.  
“That’s amazing, do you enjoy it?” He asked and you nodded vigorously.  
“It’s my passion, I have other smaller hobbies but when I go to work it doesn’t feel like work, just having fun.” You explained with excitement.  
“Wow. You make it sound like the best thing in the world, I feel that way with this job although it’s not exactly fun.” He said smiling and you returned it happily. Just then Penelope sauntered back up and looped your arm in hers.  
“Well lovelies, I have some more people to introduce (Y/N) to but you can finish this conversation later, come on hun.” She pulled you away and you waved apologetically at Reid and he returned it laughing a little. “Isn’t he just the best?!?” Penelope asked once you were out of ear shot from him.  
“Uh, yeah, sure I guess, I don’t really know him that well.” You said but Penelope just waved her hand in dismissal.  
“Just you wait hun, just you wait.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and all of the members of the BAU go out for drinks and you drink a little too much.

Before you left with Penelope for the day Morgan stopped by Penny’s office/cave.

“Hey, Y/N, you comin’ out with all of us tonight? We’re going out to get some drinks at a bar down the road.” He asked and you looked at Penelope with a questioning look.

“Oh, we’ll be there hun. We just gotta stop at my place to change then we’ll be there.” Penelope said, answering for you. You nodded happily.

“Alrighty, see you then.” He said and sauntered away. 

\--------

You and Penelope rushed to Penelope’s house after work to get ready to go out. Penny instantly ran to her closet and started digging through the various articles of clothing. I sat on the edge of her bed patiently, knowing this would take a minute. Eventually she re-emerged with a tight black and white striped dress that barely had a back. 

“Put it on hun, you’re gonna look smokin’. Now for me.” She went back to digging in her closet and you went to her bathroom to put the dress on. Whenever Penelope came across something cute in a thrift shop or retail store she’d buy it, no matter the size. So it didn’t really surprise you that she had found something that was your size. The dress fit perfectly and hugged your body in all the right places, showing off curves you didn’t even know you had. You went back to Penelope’s room to see she had also changed into a red skater dress with red heels and she was at her vanity applying red lipstick. 

“You look so cute!” You gushed, approaching her and starting to do your own makeup, a quick winged eyeliner and a dark red lip that really made your eyes pop. 

“Girl, that’s all you.” Penelope commented, stepping back to adjust her clothes and make sure she looked 100%. You finished up by putting your hair into a low messy bun with stands framing your face perfectly. You slipped on some black stilettos and called it good.

“Ok. I think I’m ready.” You said, nodding to yourself in the mirror.

“Oh you are. Trying to impress someone missy?” She teased and you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, I’ve got to make a good impression on all your coworkers.” You shot back.

“Anyone in particular catch your eye?” She pressed and you rolled your eyes again.

“Nope.” And with that you walked out of her bedroom. You heard her giggle and she followed you, grabbing her keys and following you out the front door. You two blasted 90’s music on the way there, singing your hearts out to all the hits. You pulled up to the bar and walked in arm in arm, you quickly spotted all of Penny’s colleagues and you walked in step to the table. She had you squeeze in first and you ended up squished between Reid and Penelope in the booth.

“Hi!” You said to everyone and Morgan wolf whistled.

“Damn girl.” He called, you laughed and blushed. You turned to Reid and saw him staring at you intensely. He quickly caught you staring and he looked away, his cheeks warming. You smiled shyly and looked down at your lap. He looked good too, his hair was mussed, he was wearing a red sweater and black jeans, there was nothing more attractive to you than a man that put some effort into his appearance, and it was clear he did. 

“I’m gonna go grab a drink, you want anything?” Penelope asked you.

“Uh sure, how about a Jack and Coke? Hold the Coke though.” You asked with a laugh and she nodded, slipping out of the booth and going to the bar, dragging Emily with her.

“Whiskey huh? That’s pretty strong stuff.” Morgan commented from across the table, you laughed.

“Oh, I can handle it. Plus I’m looking for something strong tonight.” You said.

“Why?” Reid asked and you looked at him in surprise, he blushed and looked away. “I don’t mean to intrude, you don’t have to answer.” 

“No, no, it’s fine, I just have been really stressed at work lately, there’s this one actress that is just a major bitch, I can’t seem to get her off my back.” You explained and everyone laughed. “She just can’t seem to wrap her brain around the fact that I know what I’m doing.” You shook your head.

“Have you tried to talk to her about it?” JJ asked.

“Not really, she’ll probably just fire me.” You said with a smirk, “That’s how people act when they think they’re better than you.”

“Actually it might be the opposite, you may make her feel uncomfortable in how happy and content you seem with what you’re doing and since she doesn’t have that she’s jealous and feels the need to take it away from you.” Reid explained and you looked at him in wonder.

“Yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense. Thank you.” You said quietly.

“Reid’s always to the rescue.” Penelope said, sliding back into her seat next to you and handing you your drink, her and Morgan shared a smug look and just watched them in confusion. Why were they so smug?, you asked yourself. You shrugged and sipped on your drink happily, feeling the liquid burn down your throat and warm your insides. 

Soon your drink was finished and you had another, and another. You were starting to feel the effects of the whiskey. You felt tipsy and were always a happy, carefree drunk. You suddenly wanted to dance. 

“Let’s go dance!” You yelled to everyone and you and Penelope stood up to move to the dance floor where some loud club music was blasting. Morgan, JJ, and Emily stood up. “Reid you better get your cute ass up and come dance with us.” You said, not even realizing what you said till after, once you realized though you didn’t really care. You finally realized how cute he was and drunk you wasn’t going to be shy. Reid looked shocked, his jaw even dropped, he slowly stood though and followed you all out to the dance floor. Turns out you were a bit more drunk than you thought. You went to Reid’s side and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the dance floor. He kept shaking his head but he was laughing and following semi-willingly. You towed him past everyone else and they looked at you two with confusion, happiness, and laughter. Reid was completely out of his element but you were in yours. You made it to the thickest part of the crowd and wrapped your arms around Reid’s neck, jumping, swaying, and grinding to the beat of the song. Eventually he gave in and quickly got the hang of the dancing by observing others and whatever felt right to him. You would sing the lyrics of the song loudly while dancing, your adrenaline raising. Soon you both were sweaty and happy. You lead him back through the crowd by the hand, he followed obediently out of exhaustion. You collapsed back at the table and he joined you. You leaned on his shoulder tiredly and he stiffened. Everyone looked at the two as if you were aliens. You smiled lazily, “hiya, I’m tired.” You said to everyone else. They had all given up on dancing way earlier than the two of you, even Penelope had called it quits.

“Well you two looked like you were having fun.” Emily commented and you nodded lazily and blushed a little.

“Well I gotta get you home before you do something you regret, little miss whiskey.” Penelope said and got up, offering her hand to you. You took it and got up, turning to wave at everyone and winking at Reid. You went and got your coat, following Penelope out the door. You drove back to Penelope’s and crashed on her couch, you were passed out as soon as your head hit the pillow, leaving Penelope unable to ask you any questions, and boy did she have a lot.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of your drunken night.

The next morning you woke up on Penelope’s couch with an ache in your back and neck, a killer headache, and the overwhelming urge to vomit. You got up quickly and ran to her bathroom, just barely making it in time. You hurled up the contents of everything you ate and drank. Penelope came into the bathroom, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, you shot her a pained smile and she gave you a look of understanding before pulling your hair back so you wouldn’t get puke on it. Eventually there was nothing left to expel from your body and you leaned back in exhaustion, now your stomach ached and your throat was sore. 

“Ugh, I’m never drinking again.” You said grumpily, glancing at Penelope. 

She laughed, “I highly doubt that, considering how much fun you were having with Reid last night.” She giggled and you looked at her in shock. There were major holes in your memory from last night but you vaguely remember pulling Reid onto the dance floor and being completely shit faced. You dragged your hand through your hair and put your face in your hands, shaking your head.

“I can’t believe I did that, he probably hates me now. I’m never that forward.” You worried, you probably looked like a tomato now, that's how embarrassed you were. Penelope just laughed again though.

“Oh, he definitely doesn’t hate you, that’s for sure. He was having just as much fun as you.” She insisted but you wouldn’t hear it. You stood up, losing your balance and grabbing the wall for stability. “Easy there, girly.” You nodded and took shaky steps back to the couch. You sat back down, giving yourself a minute to recover.

“Hey Pen, would you give me Reid’s number? I want to apologize to him.” You asked from the couch, Penelope emerged from her bedroom and gave you a suspicious look. “I’m really only using it to apologize I swear! I’m not a stalker or anything,” She giggled.

“I’m just teasing you, of course!” She gave you his number and you called him hesitantly. Penelope went back to her room to change.

“Hello?” You heard him answer tiredly.

“Hey, Reid?” 

“Uh, yeah?” He sounded confused.

“It’s Y/N.” You said. Instantly you heard a rustling noise like he was sitting up and then he cleared his throat.

“Oh! Hey Y/N! Wait, how’d you get my number?” He asked. You blushed even though he couldn’t see you.

“Penelope gave it to me, I just wanted to apologize for last night, I was really drunk. I get kinda pushy so I’m just really sorry.” You said and you heard him laugh a little.

“It’s fine, really, I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to. Are you ok though? You did drink a lot.” He asked sounding so concerned it was sweet.

You smiled, “Yeah, I mean I’ve got a killer hangover but I’ll live… maybe.” You joked and he laughed. 

“Alright well feel better Y/N.” He said and you could hear his smile through the phone.

“I will, bye Reid.” 

“Goodbye Y/N.” You hung up and leaned back against the couch in relief. He didn’t hate you! Wait why do I even care? You asked yourself. Afterall, he was just Penelope’s coworker and you wouldn’t care as much if it were Morgan or Emily. You shook it off and rounded up your things from Penelope’s, changing back into the sweater and jeans you had worn yesterday. You said your goodbye to Penelope and headed home. When you got home you took a nice long look in the mirror. Mascara was smudged all under your eyes, your hair stuck up in all different directions,all together giving the illusion that you had horns and racoon eyes. Your face was also red and puffy from throwing up. All of that combined and you sorta looked like a zombie. You rolled your eyes and hopped in the shower, washing off the sweat and boozy smell coming from you. When you got out you already felt so much better. You tossed on a warm yellow sweater and acid washed jeans. You blow dried your hair and curled it. You decided you could use a quick pick me up and wrapped a scarf loosely around your neck and a warm coat. Fall was here and there was always a terrible chill. You walked to a coffee shop just a few minutes down the road from your apartment and went in, ordering a caramel latte. You rubbed your hands together, trying to warm them up in the heated shop.

“Y/N?” You heard someone call. You turned and saw Reid waving at you from a table in the corner. Your name was called then so you grabbed your drink and walked over to his table, taking the seat across from him. He gave you a warm smile, you returned it.

“Funny meeting you here,” You joked and his smile widened.

“I was thinking the same thing, I needed some caffeine to get me through all this paperwork.” He gestured to all of the papers laying scattered around him, you nodded.

“Coffee always helps with hangovers and I wanted to get out of the house so I just figured why not.” You explained. “I just live right up the road."

“Really? Same here, just about a 5 minute walk.” He said, surprised.

“Wow! I live on 8th and 127th, you?” You asked.

“8th and 129th. Really close.” Both of your surprise grew.

“Well we should hangout, I mean if either one of us get lonely or something-” You started to ramble but he cut you off.

“Yeah that sounds good, we’ve got each other’s number so I can call you, you can call me. Whenever's fine with me, as long as we’re not on a case.” He reassured you with a smile, you nodded.

“Cool, well I’ve gotta get going but I’ll see you soon?” He nodded and you gut up and left, feeling weightless and happy that you’d found someone that lived so close to you that you could hangout with whenever. 

You got home and did random tasks and chores around the house, busying your body but not your mind. Thoughts floated around of the boy with the cutest curls all day and always seemed to put a smile on your face.


	4. Chapter 4

A few weeks passed and you and Reid had gotten increasingly closer. You had hungout several times over the weeks, watching movies or playing board games and enjoying each other’s company. He only lived a 6 minute walk from your place and you guys would alternate which apartment you went to when you hungout, it was mostly his place though. It was unusually tidy for a guy and he took good care of his space, other than the countless messy bookshelves, boy did he love to read. 

It was a friday night and you and Reid were having a game night with Penelope at his place. “Uno!” You yelled suddenly after dropping a Draw 4 card that went to Reid. He looked at you with shock and you gave him a huge grin. He sadly picked up his 4 cards and your grin didn’t fade, it was too much fun beating a certified genius at a simple card game. Penelope watched you guys intently before sending a text to Morgan that was guaranteeing you two getting together. Penelope slammed down a reverse card and you groaned. “You’re just putting off the inevitable, Pen.” You said, mocking sadness.

“So are you!” Penelope said then slapped a hand over her mouth as if she’d said something she didn’t mean to.

“What do you mean?” You asked genuinely. Penelope cleared her throat.

“Uh, nothing, Reid? Isn’t it your turn?” Penelope quickly changed the subject, leaving you confused.

“Ummmm yes,” He put down a skip card and you groaned again.

“Whhhyyyyy!” You groaned and both Penelope and Reid laughed. Penelope placed down a normal yellow card and you smirked. Reid caught it though. 

“Her last card is yellow!” Reid said then slammed down a wild card, “Green!” He announced and you laughed and placed down a wild card of your own. Both his and Penelope’s jaws dropped.

“Sorry hun, it was inevitable.” You said solemnly. They groaned with anguish and you all picked everything up and said your goodbyes. You left and walked home, the streetlights your only source of light. You got to your apartment and unlocked the door, turning the key and pushed open the door. You closed it behind you and moved to turn on a lamp, you were suddenly aware of a presence behind you and fear coursed through your body, you continued to act like everything was normal and turned on the lamp. It gave the room an eerie glow and you felt the incessant need to get out of there. You decided the safest thing to do was call someone for help, Reid was the closest and he was an FBI agent, perfect. You pulled out your phone and hit the call button, moving to put it up to your ear, still facing away from whoever was in your home. They chose that moment to strike. The hit you on the head with god knows what and you saw the ground rising up to meet you before everything went black.

You woke up in someone’s arms, you hadn’t opened your eyes yet due to the fact that you were currently experiencing the worst headache of your life. You heard someone whispering in your ear though. You knew instantly it was Reid from his voice and relaxed in his arms.

“Come on, please wake up, please.” He kept saying and you opened your eyes a little to look at him. He looked so worried and concerned that you instantly felt the need to console him. You opened your eyes all the way and looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. He instantly weakened in relief and gave you a relieved smile which you returned easily.  
“What happened?” You asked groggily. Reid frowned and looked away.

“A random transient broke into your house and was in the middle of robbing you when you got home, he hit you in the back of the head with a plate. You had called me shortly before though and I heard everything happen over the phone so I drove over here as quick as I could, not quick enough though.” He explained guiltily and without thinking you lifted your hand and ran your fingers along his jaw.

“No, you did everything perfectly, thank you.” You realized what you’d done and pulled your hand down, you blushed then you looked around for the first time in confusion, you had just realized there were other people bustling around your apartment. “What’s going on?” You asked.

“I called the cops on the way here and I caught the guy as he was leaving. The cops are checking out what he took and the damage he did.” He explained and you nodded in understanding. You noticed he looked a little flushed as well. You finally, reluctantly, moved from his grasp to stand up, he followed suit. A cop came by to update you.

“The burglar broke a window of yours, it’s gonna take a few days to get a replacement. Until then, do you have somewhere you can stay?” The cop asked politely. You thought about it, Penelope, as sweet as she is, needs her own space and you didn’t want to bug her, Hotel room it is then, you thought.

“Um I think I’ll just find a hotel to crash at until then,” You said and the cop nodded and walked off, seemingly satisfied with your answer.

“Why don’t you come stay at my place? Then you won’t be far from home.” Reid offered and you looked at him in surprise.

“You’d do that for me?” You asked. 

“Of course! It’d be fun to have a roommate for a few days.” He said with a reassuring smile. You blushed, embarrassed by his kindness.

“Yeah, that sounds great, I just need to pack some things and then I’ll be ready to go.” You told him and he nodded.

“Sounds good.” You nodded and walked to your room, grabbing a bag to pack stuff in. You took that moment of peace to really absorb what had just happened. You were honestly just freaked out to be in your bedroom alone. Nothing like this had ever happened to you before and you didn’t know how to cope with it. Your head was still pounding but you didn’t have the energy in you to go grab some Tylenol. You packed a few changes of clothes, your toothbrush, and other little things to get you through the day. You were suddenly fighting to keep your eyes open and you grabbed your bag and tumbled lazily back into the living room. You started to lean forward dangerously and Reid stabled you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. 

“Hey, you ok?” He asked sounding concerned.

“Mmhmm, just really tired.” You said tiredly. His concern just grew.

“I think you might have a concussion. You’re gonna need to take it easy for a little while.” He said and you slumped a little more against him. “Ok, ok, let’s get going.” He walked over to a cop and explained what was happening. You made it to his car without falling asleep but as soon as your head hit the seat you were asleep. You vaguely remember him carrying you inside, tucked against his chest. He laid you down in his bed and moved to leave, you reached your hand out and grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping him.

“Where are you going?” You asked softly, Reid looked at you with surprise.

“Um, I’m gonna go sleep on the couch.” He explained and you shook your head.

“No… just stay in here with me. I don’t want to be alone.” You said sounding so scared it was cute. His gaze softened.

“Are- are you sure?” He stuttered and you nodded happily.

“Please.” He hesitantly slid under the covers next to you and you gave him a warm, tired smile. “Thank you.” You said, and closed your eyes, giving in to exhaustion.

“Anything for you.” You heard him whisper so quietly you weren’t sure you’d actually heard it. You finally lost consciousness with a soft smile on your face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm terrible with summaries so I'm not even gonna try :)

You woke up warm and happy with someone pressed against your back. Wait. Who is that? You thought to yourself, you could see the arm wrapped around your waist protectively and you turned your head slightly to see their face. Your breath caught in your throat as you stared at the face of one of your closest friends. He looked so peaceful and innocent while asleep. All the worry was drained out of him while sleeping and you could tell how much he needed it. A soft smile appeared on your face and you suddenly remembered what had happened last night. Your smile slowly turned into a frown and turned your head back to face away from Reid. You had been robbed and Reid had so graciously offered a place to stay, you remember being half asleep and practically begging him to not leave you alone. How embarrassing. You don’t remember falling asleep wrapped up in his arms so one of you must’ve moved in the middle of the night, who was it though? You felt Reid stir behind you and closed your eyes again, pretending to be asleep. It took him a minute to realize what was going on but you heard his breath catch and he slowly slid his body away from yours. You felt the cold air hit your back and shivered, you turned onto your back and yawned, pretending you had just woken up. You opened your eyes and glanced at Reid, his face was bright red and he wouldn’t make eye contact. You felt the subtle urge to laugh but held it in and just smiled softly.

“Morning.” You said and he finally made eye contact with you, the blush on his cheeks quickly fading. “How’d you sleep?” You asked, trying to make it less awkward. 

He cleared his throat before speaking, “Good, you?” 

“Like a baby.” You said, sitting up. You moved to run your hand through your hair and you felt a sharp pain as soon as your fingers touched your scalp and you winced, inhaling through your teeth. “Ouch.” Reid looked at you with concern on his face.

“Yeah, I thought you might have a concussion after last night.” He looked at you with the most genuine concern. “I’m sorry.” He said, guilt glimmering in his eyes. You cocked your head out of confusion.

“Why? It’s not your fault.” You said.

“Well if I would’ve gotten there earlier I could’ve--“ You cut him off. 

“Don’t worry about it, seriously. But do you have some aspirin? I’ve got a pretty terrible headache.” You asked and he nodded, moving to get up. “You don’t have to get up, you can just tell me where it is.” You insisted but he just shook his head again. 

“It’ll only take a second, it’s fine.” He got up and went into the bathroom that connected to his bedroom. You grabbed your phone from the nightstand and checked your notifications. It was just a bunch of Instagram notifications, including a few memes Penelope had sent you. You just rolled your eyes and when you looked back down your eyes landed on the date. October 1st. Just then Reid walked back in with two blue pills and a glass of water.

“Thank you.” You swallowed the pills and took a sip of water to wash them down. Reid nodded and went to his closet to find something to wear for the day. “Hey, did you realize what day it is?” You asked.

“Um, isn’t it the first?” He looked back to give you a questioning look, you nodded.

“Yup, it’s officially spooky season! A few colleagues of mine always throw a Halloween party on the first, people make themselves look horrifying and we watch horror movies and just party, it’s a lot of fun.” You pondered for a minute then looked down at your lap, your cheeks warming. “Wanna go with me?” You asked and he had turned to face you, a shirt dangling from his fingers. His eyes were wide with surprise.

“I mean, you don’t have to, of course, I just thought--” You rambled but he cut you off.

“Yeah, of course! Your offer just surprised me, that’s all.” He explained and you nodded, your blush somehow deepening. 

“Cool, I brought my work bag so I can probably whip something together for us.” You smiled and winked slyly before getting up and looking through your own bag for a change of clothes. You found a black tank top and light blue jeans which you went to the bathroom to toss on. You pulled your hair into a messy bun before walking back out. The two of you had a nice calm breakfast together, talking about little nothings. You spent most of the day binging Netflix together on his couch, a respectable distance from each other. It was around two when you finally started getting ready for the party. You stood up and stretched before walking off into Reid’s closet to find something that you could make a costume out of. Reid followed close behind you, realizing what you were doing.  
“Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Halloween but don’t your coworkers think it’s a little premature to have a Halloween party on the first?” He asked while you were busy digging through his clothes. You turned to look him over then nodded before going back to searching.

“Maybe some people think it’s overkill but with my profession it’s just kinda expected.” You explained then found a tux buried in the back of his closet, “Aha!” You shouted in triumph. You tossed it at him, he caught it and looked at it confusingly.

“Why?” He asked, holding up the tux.

“For your costume of course!” You said as if it were obvious.

“What’re you going to do to me?” He asked but with a soft smile. 

“You’ll see, I’ve gotta run home and grab some stuff for my costume, can I borrow your car?” You asked and he nodded.

“Keys are on the coffee table.” He said and you nodded before leaving the room and snatching his keys from the living room.

“I’ll be back in a few!” You called and drove home to grab the costume you had already prepared. You didn’t stay long due to the fact that it made you uneasy just to be there alone. You felt like history was going to repeat itself and you didn’t want to take any chances so you quickly brushed it off and drove back to Reid’s. When you walked into the bedroom in search of him you saw him standing in front of a full length mirror, dressed immaculately in an old tux that he clearly never used. You fought to keep yourself from staring for too long long but had major difficulty. You pulled your eyes up to look at his face through the mirror, he was looking at you and smiling like he was pleased you were having difficulty getting your emotions under control. 

You held up what looked like a pile of just old cloth to him and said, while blushing, “Immagochangerealquick.” In such a rush he barely understood you and rushed to the bathroom. You tossed on your costume and looked in the mirror to check everything over. You were wearing a dark maroon, velvet dress that had rips and cuts all over it which gave you the appearance that something had attacked you even though there wasn’t a scratch on you… yet. It went all the way past your ankles and made you look elegant and mysterious. You nodded into the mirror and went back out. It was Reid’s turn to be speechless, you didn’t even turn to gauge his reaction as you went over to your bag that was sitting on the bed to dig through it for your work bag. Little did you know he couldn’t tear his eyes from you and was honestly starstruck by you in your tattered and ripped dress. You straightened up quickly and looked at Reid with a triumphant smile and held up your work bag. Your smile quickly fell when you saw the way he was looking at you though, your head cocking in confusion, he was looking looking at you with a passion and hunger you hadn’t seen in his eyes before and your cheeks warmed and you looked down. You cleared your throat, he looked away quickly and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Uh, should we get started?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to update but here's a chapter for your reading pleasure! Enjoy! <3

You had Reid sit at the dining room table, turning his chair to face you. You took out all of the materials you would need and glanced at him sideways. 

“It’s too quiet in here.” You announced, grabbing your phone and syncing it to the Bluetooth speaker you knew he had. You hit play on your favorite Spotify playlist, turning the music up to the point where you could talk without shouting but it filled the silence comfortably. You nodded, “That’s better.” You smiled and turned back to him and getting to work. You lightly pressed his chin upwards, gesturing him to look up. He complied and you began your work, putting down a base color, building up around it with scar wax and coloring over that to match his skin tone. You added bruising and irritation then finally some blood to add to the realism. The whole time you either were humming or tapping your foot to the music, getting lost in your work. You hadn’t even noticed him looking at you longingly or how red he would get when you would accidentally brush some other part of his body, you not even noticing what you had done. When you were done you stepped back and nodded, your work done. You grabbed a mirror and held it up for him to take a look. You had given him a deep cut spanning across the front of his neck, and dripped the blood down his chest and shirt to add to the drama of the look. 

“Thoughts?” You asked, he looked up at you with wonder in his eyes.

“This is amazing, it’s a little horrifying to be honest. How do you do it?” He asked, gazing at you intently with questions shimmering in his eyes.

You laughed a little, “You can watch me do mine and I’ll answer any questions you have.” You said, pulling out a chair of your own and getting to work in the same process just on your collarbone.

“How do you get it so accurate?” He asked, still looking in the mirror curiously.

“I study pictures of actual wounds and mimic them on others. Practice makes perfect.” You winked at him, then turned back to your own mirror. You finished up an hour later, cuts filled all of the rips and tears in your dress, making it seem like you had been mauled. There were fake bruises and scrapes covering various other places of your body and a few on your face. You did a dramatic smokey eye and winged-eyeliner, and a dark lip to complete the look. You finally pulled away and looked at Reid, the fog clearing your eyes as you came out of your almost-trance happily, you gave him a soft smile and he returned it. 

“I’m almost concerned for you, that’s how real it looks.” He said and you giggled.

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment, so thank you.” You got up in search for your shoes.

“It is, I’m not sure how you can look so gorgeous while looking almost dead,” He said with your back turned to him, your eyes widened in shock and you turned slowly, surprise written all over your face. His face was beet red and he cleared his throat and looked down, having realized what he just said.

“Y-you think I’m gorgeous?” You sputtered and he blushed even harder, not meeting your gaze.

“Um, uh, yeah. It would be impossible not to.” He admitted and you just became more surprised, he had admitted that he found you attractive. Wow.

“Well, uh, thank you?” You muttered awkwardly, spotting your heels in the corner and moving over to them quickly and bending over to slip them on.

“No problem,” He said softly and you smiled a bit, still facing away from him.

You stood up, “You ready?” You turned back to him, he had gotten up and retrieved a scarf, pulling it around his neck while being careful not to touch the faux cut. You grabbed your coat and pulled it on. He nodded.

“Yup.’’ You walked out of the apartment in stride with each other, him turning to lock up behind you. You both drove to your friends, you giving him directions while the radio played quietly. When you pulled up to your friend’s house there were already cars lined down the block. You had to park quite far away just to even find a place to park. You both got out and headed towards the house, the sound of your heels hitting the concrete and the low hum of music and party-goers the only thing you could hear. You smiled softly to yourself, looking down at the cracks in the sidewalk. “Why’re you smiling?” Reid nudged your shoulder and you looked up at him, blushing cause you were caught. His smile matched yours easily.

“I don’t know, I’m just content, happy.” You explained, nudging him back. His smile widened.

“Well I’m glad.” You reached the house and you walked up to the front door, Reid grabbing it for you, “Ladies first.” He said and you laughed, him following close behind. As soon as you walked in you heard Reid gasp and you turned to throw a huge grin at him. The inside of the house was like something from a dream. The walls were black and the lights were dimmed with strobe lights shining throughout, making it hard to see where the walls started and stopped. Horrifying Halloween decorations decorated the room, cobwebs filling every corner. There was small platforms suspended from the ceiling with various snacks on them, a punch bowl with dry ice in it to have steam pour down to add to the already existing smoke coming from the smoke machine in the corner. People bustled through the fog in their own terrifying get-ups. People with various wounds and ailments, one person even went to the lengths of making a brain prosthetic so that instead of where her hair should be it was a gory and bloodied brain. It was fantastic.

“Does this meet your expectations?” You quipped, raising an eyebrow at him haughtily.

His eyes were wide as he took in his surroundings, it was clear he’d never seen anything like this before. “I thought I knew all about Halloween. There’s a whole other side to it.” His eyes finally met yours, wonder sparkling in his eyes. You laughed, satisfied with his reaction.

“Y/N!” You heard your name and turned to find one of your closest work friends and the host of the party, Jason. “So glad you could make it!” He said bringing you in for a side hug, so as not to mess up either of your looks. He had went for a burn this year and half of his face was melted off and it was amazingly gory. 

“Thank you for having us! I see you went extra gory this year!” You joked, “Jason, this is Reid, Reid this is Jason. He’s the host.” You said gesturing to Jason from Reid. Jason put his hand out eagerly but Reid just waved, his expression was one filled with interest but it wasn’t friendly interest. You knew what that look was and it unconsciously filled you with unease. Reid was looking at Jason as a threat and you didn’t know how to take it. Your brow furrowed at you looked between them, old memories pushing and bubbling their way up and into your thoughts. Jason looked a little puzzled and you knew you needed to think fast. “Well I’m gonna go show Reid around and get a drink, thank you so much for having us!” You said enthusiastically and pulled Reid away from Jason who was staring at the pair of you curiously. Tonight was going to be interesting.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one kiddos, sorry

You pulled Reid over to all the snacks and busied yourself with filling up a plate and Reid did the same. You tried to seem light and happy but your thoughts were occupied with trying to find the meaning of the look Reid had given Jason. 

“You okay?” Reid asked, looking at you with concern.

You nodded, “Mm-hm, why?” 

“I don’t know, you just got quiet fast.” He was looking at you as if you were a puzzle he couldn’t figure out and you quickly realized he was profiling you. Your brow furrowed instantly.

“Hey! I know that look, Penny’s told me all about it. Do not profile me.” You grumbled, turning away from him angrily. He put a hand on your shoulder.

“Hey, hey, I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me. I was just trying to figure out what was wrong, I’m sorry.” He said and you turned back around to look into his eyes. He seemed genuine and you cracked a small smile.

“I’m sorry too, I just feel like profiling me is an invasion of privacy.” You admitted looking down and the hand on your shoulder fell away. You looked back up, wiping away your previous feelings and smiling up at Reid. Tonight was not going to be ruined. You turned and popped a marshmallow rat into your mouth. You filled up your face, with your cheeks gorging with marshmallow. He chuckled and popped some sort of pumpkin desert into his mouth, chewing happily. You finished chewing and swallowed, grabbing Reid’s hand and pulling him towards the dancefloor. “Let’s go dance!” You yelled over the music and threw your hands around his neck, it suddenly felt like that time you had gone to the bar and forced Reid to dance with you in your drunken haze. You didn’t want to repeat that embarrassing night and pulled yourself away from Reid, he looked at you with confusion flashing in his eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” He asked and you looked down.

“Um-- I don’t want to overstep.” You mumbled and he just cocked his head in confusion.

“Why would you be overstepping? We’ve danced together before.” He said and you nodded, still not meeting his eyes.

“I know but I kinda forced you last time and--” He cut you off, a strain of boldness coming through.

“Just some here,” He said, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you close. You looked up at him with shock and surprise written all over your features. “Unless you don’t want to?” He said, suddenly unsure. You nodded quickly.

“No! I mean yes-- I mean,” You took a deep breath, his hands felt icy hot against your back. “I’d love to.” You breathed out, relaxing into his touch. He breathed out what sounded like a sigh of relief and gave you a soft smile.You returned it and the music changed to something upbeat and frantic. You gave him a grin and slid up closer to him, wrapping your arms around his neck and bouncing to the beat. He matched your pace and you both jumped, ground, and swayed to the beat, a curl falling to hang in front of his eyes. You stayed as close as possible to him. It felt right just to be near him and you didn’t know what the feeling gathering in your stomach was. All you knew was that his presence was addicting and you didn’t want to be without a fix. You looked up to gaze into his eyes and what you saw there shocked you. His gaze was intense and filled with passion, adoration and something else you couldn’t put your finger on. It confused you but also pleased you for some reason. Suddenly things felt different between you two, more open, and you didn’t know where this was going to go. Sweat gathered on your foreheads and you finally called it quits, moving to grab something to soothe your dry throat from all the singing you’d just done. Before you could get there though a friend of yours, Jenny, slid in front of you.

“Hey Y/N! I didn’t know you were here!” She said, nudging your arm in a teasing way. She had given herself a gaping mouth that reached down her neck and was bloody and filled with gore. She had on all black contacts that made it hard to see where she was looking. Reid showed up beside you.

“If gonna go get us some drinks.” He said softly before moving toward the drink table. Jenny turned to get a good look at his retreating figure. She gave a low whistle.

“Dammnn gurl. You better be hittin’ that.” She said and you rolled your eyes.

“Nope, just friends. Sorry Jen.” You said and she lit up.

“Then maybe I’ll take a swing at that. He is a god amongst men.” She said and you felt something ugly twinge in your gut, jealousy. 

You cleared your throat, “Uh, yeah, sure go ahead.” you stumbled out and saw Reid coming back with a glass of some smoking liquid that you assumed to be punch mixed with some god-awful cheap liquor. He handed you a cup and you gave him a grateful look before taking a sip, the liquid burning as it slid down your throat.

“So, who are you?” Jenny pressed and Reid glanced at her in surprise, as if he hadn’t even noticed she was there. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“I’m-- uh, Spencer Reid, and you are?” He asked and she chuckled.

“Oh, I’m Jenny but you can call me Jen.” She said, reaching out to touch his arm. Your nose crinkled unintentionally in disgust. You raised your drink up to your lips, taking a long swig and finishing it off quickly as you heard Jenny continue to openly hit on Reid. 

“I’m gonna go get another drink.” You said quickly, turning and walking away from the pair. You busied yourself with making yourself a drink and finished off another glass right there, you refilled it once more before you turned to look for someone. You saw Jason in the corner talking to a friend of his and went over to him. “Hey,” You said simply, he looked at you in surprise. 

“Uh, Hey. I thought you’d be busy with boy wonder over there tonight. Clearly I was wrong.” He said, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and pulling you close. You smiled and laughed before looking over to see how Reid was doing. Jenny was still talking and laughing, touching his arm in a flirty way but he was looking at you with confusion and hurt etched on his face. He said something to Jenny then left her there, a confused and pissed look on her face. He walked up to you, he looked a little pissed too. 

“Can we go?” He asked bluntly. 

“Jeez, sorry my party wasn’t good enough for you Mr. FBI. No need to take it out on Y/N though.” Jason quipped and you unwrapped his arm from around your shoulders. You had dragged Reid here and it was clear he wasn’t having a good time and you were going to be a good friend, he was letting you stay at his place after all. 

“Hey, it’s fine Jay. I’m ready to head out too. I’ll see you on Monday.” You said before leaning over to place a quick kiss on his cheek. You walked right past Reid to the exit, grabbing your coat and pulling it on. Reid came up behind you and did the same before jogging out of the house to catch up with you, walking to the car. 

“Are you ok?” It was you that had asked, stopping to face him on the sidewalk, already a block away from the house. 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” He asked and you shrugged. 

“I don’t know, you just you know, got really weird when I went to talk to a good friend of mine and suddenly wanted to leave when I thought we were having a good time.” You explained, crossing your arms in defense. 

“Well so did you! Your friend Jen was just talking to me and you suddenly walked away to go drown yourself in alcohol.” He pushed back and your anger grew. 

“She wasn’t just talking to you! She was flirting!” You exclaimed, throwing up your hands in frustration. He cocked his head to look at you in confusion. 

“So, you were jealous?” He asked. 

You stumbled, “No, I just didn’t like the way she was trying to take advantage of you.” You blubbered out, trying to cover up your mistake. He took a step closer to you. 

“It’s okay if you were jealous Y/N.” He said softly. 

“I wasn’t!” You protested as he took another step towards you, your resolve was cracking as he got closer and closer to you. 

“You sure about that? Because I’ll admit that I was jealous. I was jealous seeing you with Jason. I don’t know why but it drove me crazy seeing you close to him and when you gave him a kiss on the cheek I was unbelievably furious.” He admitted and you just stood there, shocked. You cleared your throat to regain your composure. 

“Uh, yeah, I guess you could say I was jealous. I didn’t like her talking to you like that.” You admitted, he was only an inch or two away now and you felt the heat radiating off of him. He leaned in and you leaned in. Your eyes fluttered closed and you felt his breath span out across your features. You stood up on your tiptoes and put a hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down to meet you. Your lips brushed across his in a whisper of a kiss. You pressed harder, solidifying it and his arms snakes around your waist, bringing you ever closer to him. Your back arched into his touch and you cupped his face, deepening the kiss. It was a kiss full of so many emotions, the ones that reigned though were simply longing and passion. A fiery passion that burned hot and a longing that ached. You pulled back to catch your breath, your foreheads touching as you gazed at each other with panting breaths and swollen lips. What had you gotten yourself into?


	8. Chapter 8

“So now what?” You asked with a slight giggle, still wrapped up in Reid’s arms. He let you go and took a step back, running a hand through his hair to ground himself. 

He breathed out a breathy laugh, “I-- I don’t know.” He looked at you with a questioning glance and you shrugged. You felt cold now that he had stepped back and all you wanted to do was get close to him. You restrained yourself though and just started walking towards the car again, you didn't know what else to do. You heard him follow you and you both got into the car, driving back to Reid’s in silence. The radio played quietly and you looked down at your hands in contemplation. You got back to his apartment and busied yourself in the bathroom with removing your gory look. You looked up into the mirror and saw Reid leaning in the doorframe, his suit jacket and tie was gone, his dress shirt was undone on the first few buttons. You made eye contact and he moved to stand beside you. You finished wiping away the remnants of your night and tossed away the makeup wipe you had been using. Your face was now bare and you were a little embarrassed, Reid had never seen you without makeup before. Even when you slept in the same bed, you had forgotten to take off your makeup. You brushed off your embarrassment and grabbed a clean makeup wipe, turning to Reid. He leaned on the edge of the counter and you got close, starting the process of getting the makeup off. You softly wiped it away, not meeting his eyes and staying laser focused on your task, totally not thinking about kissing the highly attractive man in front of you. You finished off and stepped back, finally meeting his gaze. 

“All done.” You whispered and his eyes flicked between your lips and eyes, his gaze intense. A strand of hair had fallen down into your face and he gently tucked it back behind your ear, the distance between you decreasing although it seemed like neither of you had moved toward one another. You tilted your head up a little, hinting. He took a step back, effectively shutting you down. He cleared his throat and looked away. “Oh.” You breathed out so quietly that he probably hadn’t heard you. You just nodded a little to yourself and, feeling the stupidest you had in years, you walked past him and out the bathroom door. You walked into the living room and dug through your bag, pulling out some pajamas. You turned back around to see Reid in the doorway with his hands in his jean pockets, shoulders scrunched up to his ears. You brushed passed him on your way back to the bathroom and he didn’t turn around to see what you were doing as you sternly shut the bathroom door and changed out of your dress. Tonight had been the best and most confusing night you’d had in a long time. 

When you returned to the living room Reid was nowhere to be found but there was a bed made up for you on the couch. You slid under the blanket bitterly and held back your feeble tears. This had been a turning point for you and it was clear things between you and Reid weren’t going to be the same. You also realized how much you liked him then, it had been silently building but now it was very present and could not be ignored anymore. You felt so, incredibly dumb. Of course he wouldn’t like you back, why would he? He saved people for a living and here you sat just imitating the things he had to see everyday. You knew that you were seriously going to have to distance yourself from him to get rid of your ever-growing feelings. You closed your eyes and fell into a restless, fitful slumber. You woke up the next morning to the sound of someone banging around in the kitchen. You sat up and stretched your arms above your head, while stifling a yawn. Reid swung around into the living room, holding a mug. 

“Coffee?” He asked and you nodded, getting up. You shuffled into the kitchen, accepting the mug from Reid and taking a long swig. You shot him a grateful smile and sat down at the counter bar and put your head in your hands, you hadn’t slept well and were still exhausted. Reid silently busied himself with making some sort of food, but burning it terribly, and you finished off your coffee before grabbing a change of clothes and changing into them. You tossed your hair into a messy bun to keep it out of your face and went back into the kitchen with the bag you had brought hanging on your shoulder. Reid spotted you and gave you a puzzled look.

You cleared your throat, “Um, thank you so much for letting me stay for a few days but I gotta get back home. The window is being replaced today so I’ll be all good.” You explained, looking down at your shoes. You looked back up a moment later to see Reid staring at you with confusion and hurt written across his face. 

“Okay, um, thank you for keeping me company.” He said and you nodded, moving towards the front door.

You turned, grabbing the doorknob, “See you later,” You called, seemingly cheerful, and shut the door behind you. You walked home, bag swung over your shoulder and a sad look etched on your face. You didn’t know why you were so disappointed but you were. You thought for a fact that he had liked you earlier but it just figured that you would get your hopes up and the feeling wouldn’t be reciprocated. You shook your head to yourself and unlocked the door to your apartment. When you opened the door your mood just turned even more sour. As you took your first step back into your apartment you noticed that it the air seemed cold and detached, like you didn’t belong there. You frowned and flicked on the lights, trying to make it seem more homey. You busied yourself with unpacking your bag then making some pancakes for breakfast but you just felt unrooted, like you were floating away and didn’t know how to ground yourself. 

The next few days the feeling stuck around, getting worse and worse. Reid had tried calling you several times but you had just let it go to voicemail, you didn’t want to talk. You had to distance yourself in order to get over him. On Friday night you were awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of your phone ringing on your bedside table. Still half asleep, you grabbed your phone and saw the call was from Penelope. You answered and put the phone to your ear. You knew she was out at a bar with her team tonight, they’d just wrapped up a big case. She’d graciously invited you but you turned her down, feigning a stomach ache.

“What do you need Pen?” You mumbled, yawning afterward.

She stuttered, “H-hey! I got a q-question, well it’s not technically my question b-but whatever.” She mumbled the last bit and you could barely hear what she was saying.

“I’m really tired, and you’re clearly drunk so just spit it out please.” You were trying to be nice but whenever you were awoken prematurely you were always grumpy and this was no exception.

“Okay, okay, here goes, why are you avoiding Reid?” She asked and your eyes widened, sitting up in bed and clicking on your bedside lamp. You ran your hand over your face.

“Really, Pen? You know I’m not going to answer that.” You said, groaning. 

You heard her whisper something like “She’s not going to answer,” and someone who sounded suspiciously like Reid say something back although it was too faint to make out his words clearly. After a moment Penelope addressed you again. “What if Reid asked you himself?” She proposed and you sighed.

“No Penelope, I don’t want to talk to him right now.” You explained and you heard some more whispering in the background. “Wait, am I on speaker!?” 

“Mmmm maybe sugar, would you answer Reid in about 15 minutes?” You rolled your eyes, she was not getting the point.

“Penelope you’re not getting my point--” You started but she cut you off.

“Well you’re gonna have to talk to him, he’s on his way to your place.” She said happily.

“Wait, what?”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got some time to write so I took advantage of it, enjoy!

“Yeah, he wants to talk and I think you should talk. You’ve both been so miserable for some reason, I don’t know why but you should fix it--” You cut her off, you were still trying to process the fact that he was on his way to your place.

 

“Okay Penny, I gotta go. You’re gonna be in serious trouble tomorrow though.” You hung up without waiting for an answer and got up, brushing your hair quickly and trying to become less tired. You heard a knock at the door and sighed, running a hand down your face tiredly. You opened the door to find Reid weirdly close to it, almost like he had been leaning on it, face forwards. He shot you a drunken smile as soon as he laid eyes on you, you just glared back.

 

“Hi.” He said happily, you crossed your arms and continued to glare. You could smell the alcohol on him from where you were standing.

 

“Why are you here?” You asked, as you looked at him you realized how much you had missed him the past few days and you just wanted to curl up into his arms and never leave. You obviously restrained yourself though, he was hammered and probably wouldn’t even remember anything tomorrow.

 

“I wanted to talk.” He said simply and you rolled your eyes. “I miss you and you won’t talk to me. What’d I do?” He said with a pout and perfectly perfected puppy dog eyes, the look was so adorable that some of your anger reluctantly dissipated.

 

“Okay, come on big guy,” You took him by the arm and led him to your living room. “I’m not sure how you got here but it’s about 3 A.M. by now and I would like to go to bed and there’s no way I’m letting you walk home so I’m gonna go grab some blankets and you can sleep on the couch.” You explained, leaving him standing in the middle of the room looking adorably confused. You grabbed some blankets and a pillow from the closet in the hall and went back to the living room to find Reid sitting at your kitchen table eating some Jello you had made earlier in the day. You just rolled your eyes again and made up a bed for him on the couch. You took the Jello from him and he frowned. “You gotta go to sleep.” You said and he frowned, then he seemed to remember something and grinned.

 

“Okay,” He walked with you but then broke away, walking down the hall towards your bedroom.

 

“Hey, Spence? What are you doing?” You asked and he whipped around at the sound of you calling him by his nickname, your cheeks flushed in embarrassment. You hadn’t meant to call him that. His face twisted in confusion and he shook it to clear it, maybe he wasn’t as drunk as you thought.

 

“What do you mean? I’m going to bed.” He said, _Nevermind he’s smashed,_ You thought.

 

“Um, the couch is this way.” You gestured behind you, he frowned.

 

“I thought we were sharing a bed.” He said and you smiled sadly, as much as you wanted to, you had to distance yourself from him and it would just get worse if you slept in the same bed as him.

 

“I can’t, you gotta sleep on the couch, sorry.” You said and he nodded sadly, brushing past you and flopped onto the couch, suddenly exhausted. You approached him where he was laying and he looked up at you.

 

“Wait, I wanted to talk.” He said and you laughed a bit, moving to pull off his shoes which he had carelessly forgotten to remove.

 

“Tomorrow.” You said, brushing some hair out of his face and his eyes fluttered shut happily, they didn’t open again, he was too tired. You smiled and bent down, pressing a kiss onto his forehead and pulling the blankets over him to make sure he stays warm. You were suddenly exhausted as well and you drug your feet back to your bed, now restless though due to the fact that the man you had been trying so hard to avoid was lying on your couch. You tossed and turned and eventually fell into a light slumber.

 

You woke up to find the light shining through the curtains brightly, you turned to check the clock and groaned at seeing the time. Eight o’clock, way too early. Your body was now fully awake though and you knew there was no getting back to sleep. You let out a long groan and sat up, pulling on some fuzzy socks before slipping into the kitchen to make some much needed coffee. You let the coffee brew and padded back to your bedroom, rustling through your closet to find something to wear. You tossed on an olive green sweater and black jeans and brushed your hair, semi-successfully untangling it. You attempted to conceal the purple bags under your eyes but they were still pretty visible. You gave up with a sigh and went to get your coffee. As you poured it into a mug you heard a cough behind you. You spun around quickly and saw Reid standing there with an embarrassed look scrawled onto his face.

 

“Hey.” You squeaked out and held up the pot of coffee. “Coffee?” You offered and he nodded with a relieved look. You turned back around and reached up to grab a mug, your shirt riding up and you felt the cool air touch your skin. You turned back around to face Reid and saw his gaze fixed on you hungrily for a moment till he realized you were gazing right back and he gingerly took the mug from you, your cheeks were bright red and he moved next to you to grab the pot of coffee and proceeding to fill up his mug.

 

“Sugar?” He asked and you motioned to the container sitting next to the flour a foot away, down the counter. You both made your coffee and he watched you as you sipped on it quietly. “I still want to talk Y/N.” He said and your gaze flicked up in surprise.

 

“Y-You do?” You asked in shock and he gave you a look that made it seem obvious.

 

“Of course, you suddenly started ignoring me after I thought we had a good thing.” He said sincerely but you were confused.

 

“What do you mean?” You asked, taking another sip of your coffee.

 

He looked nervous, “We had this great friendship, you were my best friend out of work and suddenly you didn’t want anything to do with me. I want us to go back to how it was” He said and your brow furrowed, staring into your coffee intensely. Of course he didn’t mean about your kiss, why would he?

 

“I-I want to go back too… it just might take me awhile.” You said with a frown, trying to hold back your pitiful tears.

 

“Why?” He pressed and you looked at him angrily, how did he not realize? He’s pretending like it didn’t even happen.

 

“Because we kissed and now I can’t stop thinking about you but you rejected me so it’s gonna take me awhile to get my emotions under control and it certainly doesn’t help when you show up at my house unannounced in the middle of the night!” You rushed out and he looked at you in surprise, taking in your words. He opened his mouth to say something but you cut him off, you realized you had just made a grave mistake and you couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. “No! Don’t say anything. I know what you’re going to say and I don’t want to hear it. I get it, you don’t want to be with me, that’s fine.” Tears were streaming down your cheeks and you were having a hard time keeping your voice even. “Just…” You took a deep breath to steady yourself, “Just give me some time to get it together and we can be friends. If you want, I don’t know why you would though after the spectacle I just made of myself. I’m sorry.” You whimpered the last bit, breaking down and putting your coffee down on the counter and moving to flee. You felt a hand wrap around your wrist, effectively stopping you. You looked up at Reid and saw confusion contorting his features.

 

“Y-you can’t stop thinking about me?” He asked and another tear slid down your cheek and he brought his hand up to wipe it away with the pad of his thumb and you looked up at him in shock.

 

“I don't know why. I’m sorry.” You admitted, looking down.

 

He let out a breathy laugh and you grew confused, looking back up at him. “Don’t be sorry, I thought it was just me. After that kiss, I haven’t been the same. I’m so sorry for rejecting you that night in the bathroom but I was confused, no one has ever consumed my thoughts and feelings like you and I didn’t know how to react.” He admitted and you just kept staring in shock for a moment. Then you took action, you grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down to you, slamming your lips on his. He used one hand to cup your face and the other to pull you closer to him by the waist. You felt the longing and passion flood into the kiss and you tangled your fingers in his curls and you moaned blissfully into his mouth. He smiled against your lips and you felt him relax, as if he was relieved. You pulled back and rested your forehead against his.

 

“Please don’t ignore me again.” He said and you laughed.

 

“I won’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure what I should do, one more chapter to wrap things up or I could keep going with more chapters? If anyone has an opinion feel free to share because I don't know what to do. Thank you so much for reading! <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing this story and I still have some ideas sooooo more chapters! I will finish this story no matter what tho, don't worry :) Enjoy! <3 p.s. sorry this one is kinda short

“So what does that mean for you guys? Are you dating now?” Penny gushed over the phone, Reid had gotten a call from Hotch, calling him away but not without him promising that he would be back and you both would figure things out. You wanted to tell someone and even though you were still pissed at Penelope for sending Reid to your house in the middle of the night you really had her to thank.

You laughed, “I don’t know Penny, but if you see him don’t tell him I told you, be incognito please. Wait, did Hotch call you in too?” You asked.

“Yup, I’m walking in now and I see Boy Wonder. Gotta go love, talk later?” Penelope asked.

“Yeah sure, love you Pen,”

“Love you too, Sweets.” She hung up and you placed your phone on your coffee table, putting you head in your hands. You stayed just like that for what only felt like a few minutes to you but was probably a lot longer, just thinking over what had happened and making up your own conversations in your head on how it could go when he got back. You heard your phone go off on the coffee table and you raised your head to check it. It was Reid, you picked up the phone, a soft smile appearing on your face.

“Hey,” You said happily, though your mood instantly dropped at hearing his tone of voice.

“Hi,”

“What’s wrong?” You asked, your brow furrowing.

“Um, we got called away on a case. I don’t know how long it will take but I’ll call you everyday to check in. I’m so sorry.” He said and your previous smile turned into something sad.

“It’s alright, I swear. Go save some people Spence, I’ll miss you.” It had slipped out again. Only this time while he was sober. You didn’t know why but it didn’t feel appropriate anymore to call him Reid. It seemed impersonal and that wasn’t even close to how you felt. You still blushed immensely at your slip though. You heard his breath catch and him swallow.

“I’ll miss you too.” He said softly and you heard someone call his name in the background. “I gotta go now but I’ll call you later?”

“Sounds good.” You said and hung up, not wanting him to change his mind. On the other hand though you were stressing out. You never had to worry about Penelope getting hurt while at work, she was almost never out in the field. But Spencer, he was always out in the field. You didn’t know how you were going to cope with that. When he’d been on a case while you were friends it worried you of course but it didn’t consume your thoughts like this. You knew your panic was increasing and you needed a way to calm down so you drew yourself a bath, filling the tub with steaming water and bubbles. You sunk down into the water happily and just laid there with your eyes closed, feeling the water relax and soothe your muscles and the steam dampen your face and hair. After a while you sat back up and washed your hair and body slowly, you were once again sleepy due to your lack of sleep and you washed off and got out of the bath, wrapping a robe around you and retreating to your bedroom. Sunlight was shining in brightly and you squinted against it. You closed your rarely-used blackout curtains and collapsed onto your bed, the sudden darkness coaxing you to sleep.

You woke up hours later, the sunlight wasn’t shining around the curtains anymore so you figured it was late afternoon or early night. Your phone was buzzing next to you and you saw it was a FaceTime call from Spencer. You quickly patted your hair down and ran your hands across your face to make sure you were looking okay and adjusted your robe to make sure you wouldn’t be indecent. You answered the call with a smile, he returned it with a relieved one.

“I was worried you weren’t going to pick up.” He joked but you could tell there was some truth to it.

“I just woke up from a nap that turned into more than a nap,” You joked back and his smile widened.

“Yeah, sorry for showing up so late last night.” He looked down, blushing slightly and you laughed.

“Don’t be, I would say some good came out of it.” You admitted and he looked back up, his expression light but serious.

“I would have to agree with you there. Though I do have to mention that you’ll probably have to do without me for a few days. I don’t know how long this case will take, I’m really sorry.” He said and you rolled your eyes.

“You need to stop apologizing so much. You’re just doing your amazing job and yes, I will be worried for you but I know how much you love it and how much of a difference you make so… all I ask it that you be extremely careful and come back to me in one piece.” You said with a smile, “Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” He said with a soft smile, “I’m really going to miss you.” He said and you smirked.

“You better, you’re stuck with me for now.”

“Good.”


	11. Chapter 11

You went about your days normally, work, then home with a call from Spencer and a restless night of sleep. It was hard for you to sleep when the possibility of him getting hurt was so prominent. It’d been about a week since Spencer had gotten called away but you thought you were managing pretty well. You were sitting on your couch with some popcorn, watching some horror movie on Netflix and critiquing their SFX skills. You were also not so patiently waiting for Spencer to call you for your nightly talk when you heard someone knock on your door. You hadn’t been expecting anyone so your brow furrowed in confusion but you got up to grab it anyway. You pulled open the door to see Spencer standing there with his hands in his jean pockets and his shoulders hunched up. The moment he saw you he weakened in relief and you flung yourself at him, wrapping your arms and legs around him like a monkey. He groaned but you just figured he hadn’t been expecting you to do that. You buried your face in his neck and he wrapped his arms around you with a laugh. You untangled yourself from him, planting your feet back down with an embarrassed smile.

“I really missed you.” You said and he laughed, his face contorted in pain immediately after though and worry over took your features. You ushered him inside and closed the door behind you.

“What happened?” You asked and he gave you an embrrassed smile.

“We split up when looking for the unsub and he jumped me, he kicked a few times. I’m fine though I swear.” Your hands covered your mouth in shock. Anger and relief flooded through you at once.

“Thank god you’re okay. Do you need anything?” You asked, your hands fluttering around you uselessly.

He laughed a bit though stopping quickly, “Maybe just to sit down? I’m kinda tired.” You nodded and led him to the living room. You both sat down on the couch, facing each other. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you while I was gone…” He scooted closer to you and brought a hand up to cup your cheek, he leaned in, searching your eyes for something like regret but he didn’t find it, there wasn’t a doubt in your mind about whether you wanted him or not. “Can I?” He asked and you let out a breathy laugh.

“You don’t have to ask Spencer.” His eyes closed at the sound of his first name being spoken by you and he smiled softly. You closed the distance between you both, planting your lips on his. His arms wrapped around you, pulling you close with a daring intensity. You somehow ended up in his lap, your fingers laced in his hair. You broke away from his lips, starting to trail kisses from his jaw down to his collarbone. He tilted his head back, lips parted and breathing heavily. You smirked, knowing what you were doing and stood up abruptly. You put out your hand and he took it, following you into your bedroom, before you got there though you had to make something clear. You placed a hand on his chest, effectively stopping him.

“I’m just telling you that I don’t expect us to do anything tonight, frankly I’m not quite ready for that anyway but I don’t want to make you feel like you have to do anything and--” He silenced you with a chaste kiss.

“Thank you for making that clear, but that doesn’t leave everything off the table though, right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh we’re frisky tonight aren’t we? No, it doesn’t leave everything off the table. Now come on you dork.” You pulled him with you, collapsing onto your bed in a tangle of limbs. The mood had suddenly changed into something more intense and serious. You had been apart for just a week but it had felt like so much longer and you both were starved for each other’s touch. His hands roamed your body, everywhere he touched burned and you arched into his touch. You ran your hands over his chest and his breath caught as you brushed over where you assumed he had been kicked. Your hands glided to the buttons on his shirt. 

“May I?” You asked and he nodded, biting his lip. You unbuttoned it slowly, taking your time and trailing kisses down as soon as you had another button undone. You pulled his shirt open and gasped at what you saw under it. Scattered around his ribs and stomach area were purple, green, and yellow bruises. They covered large expanses of skin and were just painful to look at. Even you couldn’t recreate what you saw then. Your hands moved up to cover your mouth and tears sprung to your eyes. Spencer’s hand reached up and lifted your chin, motioning for you to look at him. You met his eyes and he gave you a reassuring smile. You shook your head and a tear slid down your cheek. You leaned down and cupped his face, planting a passionate kiss square on his lips. He reciprocated and rolled over on top of you, pressing you down beneath him.

“I’m fine, I swear.” He said sincerely but you weren’t buying it.

“I can’t believe… how do you do it?” You asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. 

He let out a breathy laugh, “It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.” He said, rolling off of you and wrapping an arm around you, pulling you close. “Can I stay here tonight?” He asked.

“Of course, that’s not even a question Spence.” You said and he pressed a kiss onto your forehead.

“Thank you, for everything.”He said and you both fell asleep, wrapped up in each other’s arms.

You woke up the next morning, tangled with Spencer. Your head laid on his chest and your arm around his waist. He had an arm wrapped around you, holding you close. You blinked slowly, your eyes adjusting to the morning light. You looked up at Spencer and saw him looking down at you with a soft smile on his face.

“Morning.” You said, yawning. 

“Good morning.” He said happily and you leaned up, plating a quick kiss on his cheek before bouncing out of bed.

“I’m gonna go make some breakfast, feel free to take a shower.” You called behind you, padding into the kitchen and busying yourself with making coffee. You heard the shower start up moments later and you smiled a little to yourself, happy he felt comfortable at your place. You made waffles and bacon. The scents swirling into the air and lightening the atmosphere easily. You heard the shower stop and you finished cooking the bacon, setting it all on a plate to cool. You gave Spencer a few minutes before entering your bedroom and seeing Spencer buttoning up his shirt. You leaned against the doorframe, a smile playing on your lips. He looked up, meeting your gaze and a blush crept onto his cheeks.

“What?” He asked, confused by your expression.

You smiled a bit wider, biting on your lip for a moment before speaking, “Nothing, breakfast is ready.” You both went and had a wonderful breakfast, enjoying each others company to the fullest, both of you beaming with happiness.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally wrote a bit more than I usually do so enjoy a long chapter! <3

The next week flew by, Spencer and you spent your few free hours and the weekend together, enjoying each other’s company immensely. When Thursday rolled around though, you hadn’t seen much of Spencer at all and you were dying to see him. You decided that you would spend the day with Penelope at the bureau (and possibly sneak a few moments with Spencer). You texted Penny on Wednesday night to confirm with her. Her excited response came only minutes later and happily agreed to swing by and pick you up before heading to work.

Thursday morning you had excitement pumping through your veins and were practically bouncing, waiting for Penelope to arrive. You saw her pull up and you slid into the passenger seat, Penelope handing you a latte before pulling out of the lot and heading towards her workplace. When you walked into the bullpen arm in arm with Penelope you saw the shock wash over Spencer’s features before he reined it in and hid his expression. Even though the two of you were ‘together’ you didn’t want to put a label on anything yet and therefore refrained from telling anyone else, including Penelope. Everyone had their suspicions, especially Penelope since you had said a bit to her before you started brushing off her questions but none of them had confirmed anything. You paused to greet everyone while Penelope headed off to start working, taking your time to reach Spencer and chatting with everyone. While you had missed Spencer so much it was too much fun to tease him and see him physically restrain himself from jumping from his chair and creating a spectacle that would arise too many questions. You pressed back a smirk and continued to chat with Emily. You eventually made your way to him though. You kept your voice and expression even, like you had with everyone else, a small smile etched onto your face.

“Break room, five minutes.” You said happily but quiet enough that no one else would hear. You headed to the break room on your own, fixing yourself some coffee and you heard Spencer come in a few minutes later, pressing himself up against your back, arms looping around your waist protectively. He pressed a kiss onto your neck and you turned around in his arms, looping your arms around his neck and starting to absentmindedly play with his hair. You got onto your tippy-toes and pressed a lingering kiss onto his lips. He smiled and hummed as you pulled back.

“What was that for?” He asked, cocking his head in pleasant confusion with a blissful smile. 

Your smile mirrored his as you answered, “Oh, I just missed you, that’s all.” You explained and his smile widened. He gave you a quick kiss and a bashful grin before you pulled away, finishing making your coffee and him starting to make his.

“I missed you too,” He whispered the next bit into your ear, leaning to get close enough. “More than you know.” The words sent shivers down your spine and you looked at him with a shocked expression. Just then Morgan stepped into the breakroom, pausing as he saw the both of you.

“Am I interrupting something?” He cocked an eyebrow, a smug smirk plastered on his face.

You both stuttered for a moment till you finally got the words to leave your mouth, “N-not at all.” You said quickly before fleeing the room, brushing past Morgan on your way out. Hoping he wouldn’t see the flaming blush that ignited on your cheeks. You didn’t see that Spencer’s expression mirroring yours or hear the endless teasing he got from Morgan afterwards. You just bee-lined for Penelope’s techy cave, sipping on your coffee to hide your expression. You chatted with Penelope but you eventually let her get back to work, you pulling out a book and starting to read. You propped your feet up on the end of her desk, leaning back in the chair you were sitting on. You quickly got immersed in your book, forgetting your surroundings and just focusing on the words in front of you. Sometime later you heard the door creak open over the sound of typing and both you and Penelope turned in your chairs. Emily and JJ were standing in the doorway, bashful smiles on their faces and doughnuts in their hands. You and Penelope leaped out of your chairs, eagerly accepting the delicious desserts from the women and taking massive bites. You closed your eyes in bliss, moaning.

“Ugh, I needed some sugar. Thank you so much!” You mumbled around your doughnut, sitting back down. Penelope reclaimed her spot and Emily and JJ pulled up chairs of their own, striking up a conversation easily.

“Who knew losing a toy car could be so devastating?” JJ said with a laugh, finishing recalling a moment that had only happened last night, in which Henry wouldn’t go to sleep until he found one certain Hot Wheels car that he just absolutely needed to have with him. You all laughed and you felt the mood lighten. It was never easy for you to have easy, effortless conversations like this when you went to work. Everyone was just too different from you and you felt like you couldn’t just be yourself. Although here, at the BAU, it was quite the opposite. You felt like you connected with everyone, one way or another, and you blended in with them seamlessly. While you didn’t want to do their job or anything you felt at home with them and once again was immensely grateful that you had struck up a conversation with Penelope all those years ago. You smiled a bit to yourself and listened to them talk, not noticing they’d asked you a question till they were all looking at you expectantly.

“Sorry, what was that?” You asked, an embarrassed blush creeping onto your cheeks.

Emily chuckled, “We were asking if you’ve got anyone special in your life,” She said with a wink, JJ waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Panic rose up in you for a moment, did they know something? You pushed it down though and shot them a suave smile, covering your true emotions.

“Just you lovely ladies,” You smirked and they all laughed.

“Really? What about Reid?” Penelope prodded and your eyes went wide, you had figured she had forgotten. JJ and Emily leaned forwards in their chairs, instantly enticed.

“Oh? You and Reid, huh?” JJ asked, you blushed fiercely and looked away.

You cleared your throat, “I gotta go to the restroom.” You said, getting up from your chair and scurrying out of the room. You heard the laughter echo down the hall and you walked into the bullpen, the blush on your face still prominent. 

“Hey, girly. What happened in there?” Morgan asked from his seat at his desk. You rolled your eyes and pulled up a chair, sliding up next to Morgan and leaning back in your seat in exasperation.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” You mumbled, turning in your chair to face Spencer. He was looking at you with a small smile on his face. 

Morgan clocked it instantly, “What’re you so smug about Pretty Boy?” Morgan grinned but you saw the smile evaporate from Spencer’s face and saw his cheeks heat up in embarrassment. You laughed, “Both of you are so transparent.” Morgan said and you looked at him in surprise. “Oh, don’t even try to hide it, I wouldn’t believe you anyway.” You shot Spencer a questioning glance and he nodded slightly.

“Okay, yeah you caught us but you can’t tell a soul. I mean it Morgan!” You said, then thinking for a moment. “We’re not even officially together, right Spence?” You asked, turning to face him. His gaze fixed on you intensely but it was distant, as if trying to solve a complicated problem. He still nodded though, his head cocking in confusion. “Speaking of which what are you doing after this?” You asked, gliding over to him on your wheeled chair. 

He shook the confused look off his face before answering, “Spending time with you hopefully?” He asked with a hopeful glance and you laughed.

“Sounds good. I think I’ll head out now, I need to take a shower but feel free to just come over after work.” You said with a smile and getting up from your borrowed chair. You leaned down and pressed a chaste but passionate kiss onto Spencer’s lips, leaving him dazed and with a content smile plastered onto his face. You turned to Morgan who was attempting to get back to his work and you gave him a daring glance. “Not a word to anyone, got it?” You ordered and he nodded.

“Yes ma’am. You’re feisty today.” He said and you smirked and went off to inform the girls of your departure. You found them in the same places as before in Penelope’s cave and you told them you were leaving, frowns appearing all around. They all gave you goodbye hugs and you headed out, passing Spencer and Morgan again before leaving. You blew a kiss at Spencer and winked before turning your back on him and getting into the elevator. He still looked at you with a confused expression though. What was so worrying to him?


	13. Chapter 13

You went home and took a nice long, steamy shower. In fact, your shower was so long that you didn’t notice nor hear your front door unlocking and Spencer coming in, calling your name and only hearing the shower running and your music playing in the bathroom. He called your name a few times more but you didn’t hear, you were too busy singing along to one of your favorite songs. As he approached the bathroom door he heard you singing and he instantly grinned, happy you were happy. He cracked open the bathroom door and stuck his head in. 

“Having fun in there?” He asked and you jumped, dropping the bottle of conditioner you were holding. It hit the ground with a loud thud, “Are you okay?” Spencer asked, rushing towards the shower in case you had fallen. 

You popped your head out of the shower curtain, shooting him an embarrassed smile. “I’m okay.” 

He grinned at you for a moment before speaking, “Did you know that 60% of people sing in the shower? It’s a widespread phenomenon because so many people enjoy the sounds of their voices more in the shower because of the acoustics.” 

“I did not, thank you for sharing and thoroughly embarrassing me. Now if you would kindly leave so I could finish my shower and song.” You finished, stepping back to be fully in the shower again and out of view of Spencer. You heard him laugh again before the bathroom door shut, announcing his departure. You smiled to yourself and lathered your hair with conditioner, singing happily along with the new song that was playing, the lyrics ingrained in your brain due to the fact that you had listened to it on repeat. Eventually you finished up and wrapped your towel around your body before stepping into the living room to search for Spencer. You found him sitting on your couch, book in hand and caught up in whatever world those pages contained. You cleared your throat and his eyes slowly focused on you, coming out of his trance. He then noticed that all you were wearing was a towel and his eyes widened, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. You laughed at his reaction before bending down and kissing him squarely on the lips, you let the kiss linger then pulled back, giving him a quick smirk.

“I’m glad you’re here, now I’m gonna go get changed.” You announced, turning and heading to your bedroom. You closed the door behind you and tossed on some lounge-around clothes, a tank top and some sweatpants were calling your name so you went with those. You brushed your dripping hair out before piling it on top of your head and keeping it in place with a large clip. You went back into the living room to see that Spencer was now fixing you both some sort of dinner. You went up behind him and poked your head over his shoulder, looking to see what he’s doing. He smiled and turned his head, kissing your cheek softly. His funk from earlier at the bureau seemed to have disappeared and you were glad for it. 

You grinned happily, he was mixing pancake batter and you kissed his cheek once before speaking, “Are you staying over tonight?” You asked, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and kissing his neck.

“If it’s okay with you?” He asked and you laughed.

“Of course it is, now did you by any chance bring a change of clothes so you don’t have to sleep in your jeans again?” You asked and he nodded. You took the whisk from him, “Go get changed then, I think I can handle this.” You smiled reassuringly at him and nudged him with your hip, gesturing for him to go. 

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He said and you nodded happily, whisking the batter together. You started a burner on the stove and greased a pan before pouring batter into it. You felt Spencer come up behind you and wrap his arms around your waist protectively. You leaned back into him and looked down to see his arms bare, it was then that you realized your never seen his arms bare in the entire time you’d known him. You deducted that he must’ve been wearing a tee shirt and you saw some strange marks in the crease of his elbow. They looked like… track marks. You ghosted your fingertips over the scars and you felt him shiver behind you. You turned around in his arms and saw the ashamed expression on his face and you planted a kiss on his lips.

“You don’t have to tell me but just know I don’t judge you for these.” You said, brushing your hands up his arms. He looked extremely touched and took a moment before speaking.

“Thank you, and I do want to tell you but it’s not exactly a light topic. I can tell you after dinner?” He asked and you nodded.

“Sounds good,” You turned back around in his arms to face away from him but not pulling away from his grip. “I don’t want my pancake to burn.” You said he laughed, resting his head on your shoulder. You both made a nice stack of pancakes and brought them to the living room for an unformal dinner, you poured syrup into a little dish and set it next to the pancakes to dip them in. You both decided on a horror movie and settled in. Eating your pancakes as finger food and munching in happy silence. You both finished up and you curled into Spencer’s side, savoring his body heat. 

He kissed the top of your head before speaking, “Most of those marks I didn’t do to myself,” He started and you looked up at him in surprise, shocked he was ready to share so quickly. “I was kidnapped, the man who took me had Dissociative Identity Disorder and had three personalities, Tobias Hankel, which was the true him, his father, and an archangel named Raphael. Raphael and his father would beat me and Tobias would drug me with Dilaudid so I would be unconscious for most of the beatings. I was there for two days till the team finally found me. I tried to stop taking it but I couldn’t. I was addicted for quite a while but I’ve been sober for many years now. A lot more has happened to me and I want to tell you all of it but… It’s a lot and I don’t think I can do it all in one go.” he took a deep breath and looked at you for the first time since the start of his story. Tears had sprung in your eyes and were starting to roll down your cheeks. You wiped them away quickly and brought your hand up to hold his face.

“Thank you for telling me, it means a lot to me and I wouldn’t want you to tell me all of it now anyway, it’s a lot for me too.” You curled back up into his side and you finished your movie before heading to bed, limbs intertwined and happily exhausted.


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning you both woke up, wrapped up in each other’s arms and you both got ready for work together. You finished up your coffee and went out the door together, hand in hand. You closed the door behind you both and turned to Spencer. He cupped your face and gave you a long, passionate kiss. You smiled up at him as he pulled back and he returned it easily. You both walked to your cars together and as you got into your car you rolled your window down for one last goodbye before work. 

“Bye Spence, love you!” You said happily then clapped your hands over your mouth in shock of what you had just said. Spencer looked at you with shock and surprise written on his face and you, being you, did the only thing you could think of. You rolled your window back up and drove off, not giving Spencer even a moment to react or respond. You drove to work in a shocked silence. Had you really just said that? You hadn’t meant to but you realized you meant it. You meant it with every fiber of your being. You loved him and you had just realized it. Now, that does not mean in any way that you were ready to say it. You had probably just fucked up your whole relationship with him. You pulled up to your work and put your head in your hands, squeezing your eyes shut and pressing back the panic that was rising up in you. You weren’t ready to end your relationship with him at all, it was just starting and you hadn’t had anything like this… ever. You’d only had one boyfriend before and he wasn’t exactly the caring type. Even though you weren’t even officially dating it felt like you were and you didn’t want to mess it up. But… you didn’t know how you were going to get past it. You felt yourself shutting down mentally and took a few deep breaths to stave away your panic. You finally got out of your car and headed to work, your phone repeatedly going off in your phone before you just turned it to silent without glancing at your notifications though you already had a sneaking suspicion that you knew who it was. You went through your day in a haze, just going through the motions and trying your best not to screw anything up. You still did though. You were working on the aforementioned bitch when you just zoned out for a moment and spilled faux blood all over her blouse. 

“What the hell!” She screeched, pushing you back by the shoulders and standing up in frustration, “You can’t do anything right, can you?! This was the last straw.” She ground out through clenched teeth and stomped away, her stilettos making a thundering clack each time she took a step. She left you standing there, stunned. You were trying to be strong as you normally were but way to kick a girl while she’s down. You felt the tears rise and your face burn with embarrassment. You set down your brush and the fake blood and raced out of the room, everyone’s gazes following with curiosity and mockery. You got back in your car and rested your head against the steering wheel, feeling utterly helpless. Normally, if you were having a bad day you would go straight to Spencer for comfort but obviously that couldn’t happen now. The tears started to flow and they didn’t stop, only lightening enough for you to drive home and run to your bed. You paused in the doorway for a moment, the memories of only hours before flashing through your mind. You were so happy then and it was such a contrast to your mood now that you just dive into your bed, curling into yourself in self-pity. You stayed like that till the sun went down, just lying there in despair. You eventually pulled yourself up and checked your phone, scrolling through the numerous notifications, most being from Spencer. Five missed calls and eleven texts. You didn’t have the heart to read them so you didn’t, instead checking the missed call from Penelope. You called her back, putting the phone to your ear. It rang twice before she answered, her chipper voice coming through the speaker.

“Hey dumplin’, what’s up?” She asked.

“I was just returning your call, what’s up with you?” 

“More like what’s up with Boy Wonder. He was fidgety and seemed far away all day. He couldn’t concentrate on anything so I was wondering if you knew what was up.” She explained.

“Why would I know what’s up?” You attempted to throw her off but knew it probably wasn’t going to work.

“Uhhh,” She stuttered.

“Morgan! Oh I’m gonna kill him.” You ground out, he said he wouldn’t say anything!

“It’s not his fault, I made him! Please don’t be mad at him!” She pleaded and you rolled your eyes.

“We’ll see. Anyway, uh, yeah I accidentally said something to Spence and kinda sorta messed everything up.” You said, rubbing the back of your neck in nervousness.

“Oh sugar plum, what happened?” She asked, you knew she wasn’t trying to be nosy but you couldn’t talk about it.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, I’ve gotta go Pen. Talk later?” You asked.

“Sure, try and have a good night, ok?” She said, a mix of pity and some other emotion were thick in her voice.

“I will. Love ya girly.” You hung up and changed out of your work clothes into some sweats and a sweater. You turned to face your bed and frowned at the sight of it. It was too much for you so you grabbed a fleece blanket and retreated to the couch in defeat. You wrapped yourself up and turned on your favorite tv show, enjoying the comfort of it and zoning into the plot. The first knock on your door you didn’t even hear. It was the second that actually caught your attention and you got up, blanket still wrapped around your shoulders, and pulled open the door. Spencer stood there, looking at you with nervousness in his eyes. Your eyes widened in surprise and you just stood there, not knowing how to react.

“Hi.” He said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck before putting them into his jean pockets. “Can we talk?” He asked and you nodded, moving aside to let him in. He walked in and you shut the door behind him. He turned to face you and your cheeks warmed, remembering earlier.

“Um, we can sit on the couch.” You muttered and walked into the living room, hearing Spencer follow behind you. You sat on the couch and he sat next to you, weirdly close. Almost like he couldn’t be far from you. “ I just want to start off by saying I’m sorry, Reid--” He cut you off.

“So I’m only Reid now?” He blurted out, hurt filling his eyes completely and deeply. You looked down.

“I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable…” You trailed off. His fingers lifted your chin, turning your head to look at him.

“You’ve never made me feel uncomfortable, Y/N.” He whispered and you blushed.

“I completely understand if you don’t want this to continue.” You said and your lip trembled, trying to hold back tears.

“But... what if that’s not what I want? At all.” He asked and you looked at him quizzically. “You didn’t give me the chance to respond this morning. You always assume you know what’s going on but you don’t. Sometimes you have to give the person the opportunity to prove you wrong. I love you too Y/N, and if you had just given me the chance to say it back this morning you wouldn’t have had to stress all day.” You looked at his with surprise and slammed your lips onto his. So many emotions were conveyed in that moment. Adoration, passion, but most of all, love. It felt like a breath of fresh air to have your feelings both outed and reciprocated. You told him you loved him in between each kiss and he said it right back, easily. From then on you both were always upfront with each other and stuck together through thick and thin. Both of you opened up about everything and comforted each other when times got tough. Your lives together were full of ups and downs but you were just that. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, if you've bothered to read this far ;) It's been a pleasure to write this story but I decided to end it since I feel I've done what I can with this plot so I'll see you in my next story! I love you all <3 p.s. sorry if you're not happy with the ending, I gave it a sort of open ending so you can imagine what happens afterward the way you would prefer :)


End file.
